Shoe tree



' March 27, 1945. G. CLAUSING 2,372,551

SHOETREE Filed Oct. 2, 1942 I l3 l6 a a0 5 n I 3 2a 4 a3 INVENTOR. George Clousmg Patented Mar. 27, 1945 George Clausing, Portsmouth, Ohio, assignor to Vulcan. Corporation, Portsmouth, Ohio Application October 2, 1942, Serial No. 460,478

2 Claims.

' 'I'hi'sinvention relate to a shoe tree and'particularly to a tree made of light rigid non-metallic material suchas wood and adapted for personal use to preserve the original style and beauty of the shoe.

Themanufacturers' of shoes and lasts are very definitely aware of the great advantage derived from the use of'shoe trees to prolong the life and original foot health preserving qualities of the shoes that they are instrumental in producing. The manufacturer is, also, aware that an improperly designed and constructed shoe tree may and very often does cause serious distortion and deformation of the shoe instead of-preserving its intended conformation.

the use oi an improper shoe tree will cause more damage than will result from the use of no tree at all.

The shoe and last manufacturers appreciate the accuracy and special skill which is employed in the manufacture of shoes and their recommendations all point to'the use of' shoe trees to preserve the valuable workmanship built into the shoe. They recommend, however, that only properly designed shoe trees be used because that is the only way in which to derive the full benefits of the care andskill used in the manufacture of the shoes. Undoubtedly, one of the chief factors contributing to the failure of the public to It is not generally known, however, by the consuming public that care for their" footwear by using shoe trees 'has been the inability of the public to obtain'an efficient and. practical shoetree. Many of the trees available fail to perform their'intended purpose or they have so'm'any disadvantages connected with their use that the purchaser becomes completely disinterested. As a matter of fact many of the shoe trees available on the market not only fail to perform their purpose but actually distort or otherwise damage the'footwear in which they are used.

'I'he purpose of the present invention is to provid'e a shoe tree which is scientifically constructed to' eliminate the disadvantages of. trees heretofore manufactured. It is constructedentirely of wood or other light rigid substance such as moulded plastic material. The tree is composed of three major parts, the toe part, the heel part and an interconnecting compression strut The strut member is pivotally conmember. nected to the-rear portion of the toe member at one of its ends in such manner that it may freely swing in a vertical plane. The other end of the strut member is rounded and screw within a shoe.

threads areformed thereon in. the material of which it is made.

of the strut member is received. The heel memher is provided with a heel engaging surface for contacting the inner face of the rear extremity of the shoe upper heel part.

To insert the tree in a shoe its toe portion is first placed in the toe of the shoe. With the toe piece firmly pushed as far'as it will go into the toe of the shoe the: length of the tree may now be adjusted to the length of'the'shoe; To lengthen or shorten the tree the strut and heel piece are elevated out offlengagement with the shoe and the heel piece rotatedupon the strut in one direction or the other depending upon whether it is required to, lengthen or shorten the tree. By trial an adjustment is readily found which produces exactlythe correct tensionin the shoe when the heel piece is pushed into the shoe heel. When once adjusted the tree will maintain its adjustment indefinitely. l

The heel piece of the tree is of symmetrical design, its upper and lower portion being of identical contour and having its back line so shaped that it snugly fits into the heel in either of its two-vertical positions. Thus an extremely fine adjustment .of the length of the tree may be obtained varying in increments of one-half of the pitch of the screw thread. To facilitate removal of the tree from the shoe, finger holds are provided in the heel piece by means of which the heel piece may be elevated from the shoe and then by using the same finger holds a firm grip is obtained bymeans of which the tree may be withdrawn from the shoe.

'I'o present a better understanding of the in vention a specific embodiment thereof will be described and illustrated in the accompanying drawingin which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a shoe tree embodyingthe invention shown in operative position Fig. 2 is a plan view of'the shoe tree.

Fig. 3' is a cross-sectional view on line 3-3 Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view on line 4-4 Fig. 2'.

the tree herein presented i constructed of wood. The toe portion 5 is given the conformation at least substantially identical with the last upon which theshoe is made. The toe piece may be manufactured in any suitable manner. However, by employing the last lathe upon which the toe pieces are turned from a model, the toe pieces may be manufactured accurately and in large numbers at low cost.

The toe piece extends rearward in the shoe to a position slightly to the rear of the ball portion thereof and is provided with a slot 6 cut in its rear extremity and disposed vertically. The slot 8 serves to receive one end of a compression or strut member I. The strut member I may be shaped in any desired manner. A suitable procedure is to saw the strut from wood stock of the proper thickness desirably about one-half of one inch. To facilitate their manufacture and to maintain the proper accuracy of alignment the stock from which the strut members are manufactured desirably is held to uniform thickness and the slot 6 in the toe piece into which they fit is cut to the correct width to snugly receive them. The strut l is secured-in the .slot 6 by means of a wooden pin 8 passing through a horizontally disposed bore 9 in the rear portion of the toe piece. A hole I0 is formed in the end of the strut 1 through which the pin 8 passes. The pin desirably is held by friction within the hole in the toe piece while the bore 1 in the strut is of correct size to permit the strut l to freely rotate upon the pin and swing in a vertical plane.

The other end of the strut I has formed thereon a cylindrical portion ll upon which are cut screw threads l2. The'heel piece I3 is constructed to be received within the heel of the shoe and bear against its rearmost inner face. The rear surface Mof the member I3 is given a contour substantially complementary to the rear portion of the shoe heel upper. The contour of the face I4 is distributed along the back of the heel piece symmetrically with respect to a line I5 upon the axis passing longitudinally through the strut l. The symmetrical construction of the member l3 permits it to'be received equally well Within the heel of the shoe in either of its two two members by means of which the length of the shoe tree may be accurately adjusted.

The top and the bottom extremities l8 of the heel piece l3 are extended rearwardly a substantial distance and finger holds 19 preferably of circular form are formed in the heel piece l3 and are situated between the extremities l8 and the boss N5 of the heel piece I3.

A desirable refinement of the invention is found in the provision for lateral resiliency in the toe piece 5. Such resiliency is provided by executing a plurality of saw cuts 20 in the toe piece which extend from its rear extremity to points near the forward end thereof. The saw cuts 20 desirably terminate at their forward end in cylindrical apertures 2|. The proximity of the terminus of the cuts 20 to the outer limit of the surface of the toe piece determines the degree of resiliency of the side sections 22. Thus the desired degree of resiliency may be obtained by properly executing the saw cuts 20. In the above described construction for the toe piece, the pivot pin 8 is made short so that it will be received only in the center portion 23 between the side sections 22.

When the toe piece is thus constructed it functions to exert a lateral expansive force of sufficient intensity to fill the toe of the shoe completely and to correct a wrinkled or distorted condition of the shoe fore part. To obtain the desired resiliency the girth of the toe piece should be'enlarged slightly beyond the shoe size for which it has been made thus when the toe piece is inserted in the shoe the side sections 22 will yield slightly producing the desired tension.

Another desirable result flowing from the lateral expansion feature of the toe piece is the ability of the shoe tree to automatically adapt itself to a number of shoe width sizes thus broadening its use. The saw cuts 20 also serve as ventilating ducts to permit moisture which may be present in the shoe elements to readily vaporize and escape to the outer air.

One of the most important functions of a shoe tree is to maintain proper longitudinal alignment of the shoe and particularly to counteract the tendency of the forepart of the shoe to turn up. The present invention accomplishes thisfunction in a highly practical and scientific manner. Referring to Fig. 1 of the drawing it will be observed that the line 15 indicating the longitudinal axis of the strut member has been elongated to pass through the entire length of the shoe. The pin 8 is so positioned vertically within the toe piece that its axis will lie upon the line l5 and furthermore the line l5 will also, lie upon a horizontal median plane through the toe piece when the tree is in operative position in the shoe.

The strut and the heel piece i3 are also so aligned .with respect to the toe piece that the axial line 15 will lie upon a central vertical median plane passing through the toe piece as illustrated in Fig. 2. By thus accurately aligning the strut and heel piece along a centralized longitudinal line through the toe piece and also pass through a point 24 well below the upper extremity of the heel portion of the shoe upper, the forces acting to preserve the shoe contour are applied in a scientifically uniform manner and evenly distributed throughout the shoe. Thus the forces acting have no tendency to twist or distort the shoe by arching the instep excessively upward or downward or to cause misalignment of the shoe elements from their intended relative position with respect to a vertical plane.

The all wood, construction of the shoe tree avoids the use of materials restricted to other uses and furthermore definitely forestalls the liability of damage to the shoe in which they are used or injury to the person using the tree resuiting from contact with sharp edged metallic parts.

I claim:

1. A shoe tree comprising a toe piece contoured to substantially fit the forepart of a shoe. a heel piece connected to the toe piece by a strut member, means for adjusting the length of the shoe tree the operation of which involves the rotation of the heel and toe pieces with respect to each other, the heel piece being contoured to substantially fit the inside rear extremity of the heel portion of a shoe upper and having its upper and lower portions of symmetrical shape with respect to a central substantially-horizonta1 plane therethrough, a pair of finger holds in said heel piece one of which is situated in the upper portion and the other of which is situated in the lower pOltiOll, of the heel piece whereby said heel piece is adapted to function in either of two operating positions with one of the finger holds available in the upper portion of the heel piece for removing the shoe tree from the shoe.

2. A shoe tree constructed entirely of wood and comprising a toe piece contoured to substantially fit the forepart of the shoe and extending rearward a short distance beyond the ball portion of the shoe, a heel piece of substantial thickness at least as high as the depth of the shoe heel and having flat vertical parallel side faces, said heel piece being shaped generallysymmetrically with respect to its horizontal central axis and presenting a shoe engaging rear face contoured to substantially fit the heel of the shoe whereby the heel piece may function equally well in either of its two positions when its-side walls are vertical, a pair of finger holds situated respectively in the upper and lower portions of said heel piece, said heel piece having a forwardly extending body portion of reduced heightwise dimension, a bore extending horizontally through the said body portion on said axis and having internal screw threads, a one piece strut member extending between said heel and toe members pivoted at one of its ends upon said toe member to swin in a vertical plane and having screw threads upon its other end complementary to and received within those in said bore thereby to provide lengthwise adjustment of the tree, said strut being so positioned with respect to the said heel and toe pieces that a line passing through its lengthwise axis andthrough the axis of the pivot point between said toe piece and strut will lie upon a longitudinal line upon which the operating forces of the tree are in substantial lateral balance.

GEORGE CLAUSING. 

